In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. In 1995, First Financial Management was acquired by First Data Corp. (the deal amounted to $ 7 billion), and Western Union Financial Services became a subsidiary of First Data. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide. Western Union made so that the time in all of American civil services was the same.